Main menu

Post navigation

How to recover lost worksheet protection password in Excel with VBA code

I download excel template from internet. I noticed that excel sheet is password protected and i unable to do any modification. When i try google it, i found one very useful VBA code which will help to cancel or break the lost worksheet protection password.

1. Open your worksheet which has been protected before.

2. Hold down the ALT + F11 keys, and it opens the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications window.

3. Click Insert > Module

4. Paste the following code in the Module Window.

SubPasswordRecovery()

Dimi AsInteger, j AsInteger, k AsInteger

Diml AsInteger, m AsInteger, n AsInteger

Dimi1 AsInteger, i2 AsInteger, i3 AsInteger

Dimi4 AsInteger, i5 AsInteger, i6 AsInteger

OnErrorResumeNext

Fori = 65 To66: Forj = 65 To66: Fork = 65 To66

Forl = 65 To66: Form = 65 To66: Fori1 = 65 To66

Fori2 = 65 To66: Fori3 = 65 To66: Fori4 = 65 To66

Fori5 = 65 To66: Fori6 = 65 To66: Forn = 32 To126

ActiveSheet.Unprotect Chr(i) & Chr(j) & Chr(k) & _

Chr(l) & Chr(m) & Chr(i1) & Chr(i2) & Chr(i3) & _

Chr(i4) & Chr(i5) & Chr(i6) & Chr(n)

IfActiveSheet.ProtectContents = FalseThen

MsgBox "One usable password is "& Chr(i) & Chr(j) & _

Chr(k) & Chr(l) & Chr(m) & Chr(i1) & Chr(i2) & _

Chr(i3) & Chr(i4) & Chr(i5) & Chr(i6) & Chr(n)

ExitSub

EndIf

Next: Next: Next: Next: Next: Next

Next: Next: Next: Next: Next: Next

EndSub

5. Press F5 or click the Run button on the toolbar and wait a couple of minutes. The pop up windows will report a temporary cracked password, which is not the original one.

Note:

Above temporary password only can used once. Once you quit the excel, above password will not valid anymore.

With this VBA code, you just only recover one worksheet protection password at a time, if there are multiple protected worksheets, you need to apply this code one by one.

Above VBA code only work on Excel 2010 and below. I tried to run above code on Excel 2016, it failed to excute.